E-commerce solution provider Graas bags $40 million as its first close of Series A funding round
- ByStartupStory | August 17, 2022
Graas, an e-commerce solution provider also known as Growth-as-a-Service, announced the funding of $40 million as the first close of its Series A round, which was sponsored by Galaxy (a Kejora-led SPV), Performa (a multibillion-dollar European asset manager-led SPV), Integra Partners, Yuj Ventures (the Xander Group), and AJ Capital.
The round also included a number of other Southeast Asian and Indian-based angel investors from the deep tech, retail, ad tech, and private equity sectors.
In order to strengthen Graas’ go-to-market strategy in the region, a portion of the newly generated funds has already been used to buy 100% of D2C and data specialist Shoptimize Inc and Southeast Asia’s marketplace specialist SELLinALL. The founders of both businesses have joined the Grass board and will remain a member of the new organisation.
Along with developing in Southeast Asia, the new financing will be used to increase the team size of the New Delhi-based firm, which now has over 350 employees spread across seven nations.
The CEO of the firm Bhatia said, “Although India and Southeast Asia (SEA) are the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world, with US $200 billion in GMV, they still represent less than 10% of the total retail market in the region. There is a lot of space for growth, but brands are finding it harder and harder to manage profitability. Margin is at risk due to the rise in marketplaces, revenue splits with different platforms, advertising and customer acquisition costs (CAC), as well as changing warehouse and last-mile costs.”
Jinesh Patel, Managing Partner at Integra Partners, said, “The convergence of AI, e-commerce, adtech, and finance represents a multibillion-dollar opportunity in Southeast Asia and India. Partnering with Graas is fascinating for us because they have not only identified a market gap, but have produced a solution that defines an altogether new category.”
About Graas
Prem Bhatia and Ashwin Puri, two serial entrepreneurs and industry veterans in martech, founded Graas in 2022. Graas is a technology solution provider using predictive AI to turbo-charge growth for eCommerce businesses. It integrates traditional data silos and applies a machine-learning AI engine, acting as an in-house data scientist to predict trends and give real-time insights and actionable recommendations for brands.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
